Ever wonder why food is named the way it is? The Commons has some answers…
| Queen Margherita turned up in this week’s Library of Congress uploads to Flickr Commons. She’s the eponym of the “margherita pizza,” a standard combination of toppings (mozzarella, tomato, basil). Margherita pizza was served to the Queen Consort in 1889, in Naples, as an edible representation of the Italian flag (red/white/green). The name stuck. |  Library of Congress |
| Another famous Italian woman of the late 19th/early 20th century, coloratura soprano Luisa Tetrazzini, inspired a San Francisco chef to create “tetrazzini,” a dish with pasta, almonds, mushrooms, and parmesan sauce. |  Library of Congress |
| Staying in the music world, we find Dame Nellie Melba, Australian opera singer, who was honored with several namesake dishes, including Peach Melba (ice cream with peaches and raspberry sauce), and melba toast (a dry flat cracker). |  State Library of New South Wales |
| Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova had a meringue dessert named for her, because it was said to be as “light as Pavlova.” |  State Library of New South Wales |
Want more? Wikipedia has a List of Foods Names after People, and a List of Foods and Drinks Named for Places, for your all edible history needs.
Here’s a fine Flickr Commons tale. The National Library of Ireland has developed an extraordinarily committed (and funny!) group of commenters who are tenacious when there’s a mystery to solve. Headlines, automobile models, even clock faces are studied and analyzed to identify the unidentified. Last November, a group of early 20c. images from the Fergus O’Connor Collection were uploaded to Flickr Commons, and one was only called “Large house, with a clock tower and crenellated rooftop, in an unknown location.” For ten months, the location remained unknown, but comments and guesses kept arriving–two pages worth! Was it in Cork? A film set, perhaps, or a convent?
This week, Flickr user zetetic2006 finally had the answer: Sandymount Castle, near Dublin. Here’s the comment left:
I recognised it immediately! It’s Sandymount Castle on Sandymount Green in Dublin, the crenellated clock-tower is a giveaway. The rear of the castle backs onto the southern side of the Green where you can still see the clock tower, check out Google Maps. The view in this photo is no more, Castle Park was built in these grounds, sometime in the 50’s or 60’s I think.
Fellow Flickr user Niall McAuley confirmed this identification promptly, from Google Streetview, maps, and Bing’s bird’s-eye view, and the National Library of Ireland confessed speechlessness at the mystery’s solution. “I live under a mile from this building,” noted the amazed librarian, “and pass by Sandymount Green at least once a week!”
The Library of Congress is asking for your help to curate a new set of pictures for the Library of Congress Flickr account:
We’re eager to find out what interests you and would love for you to express yourselves visually by creating a personal gallery. The most popular pictures will form a new set that reflects your diverse interests and expertise. Your input will help us select more gems from our collections that you would like to see uploaded in the future.
Here’s how:
• First create a new gallery in your Flickr account with the title My LOC Favorites.
• Add ten of your favorite images from the Library of Congress sets on Flickr. (Top ten only, please!).
• It would be great if you could explain the reasons for your choices beside each image. More detail can help guide our future selections for Flickr.You have until Friday, August 31st to create your gallery.
Once we have looked at everyone’s galleries, we’ll post a new Library of Congress Flickr set highlighting the top selections.
This project is being coordinated by Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division staff and Bronwen Colquhoun, a British PhD student from Newcastle University whose research focuses on how Flickr Commons supports community engagement. She is carrying out a fellowship at the Library until September 2012. She’s been doing similar projects with other UK-based Flickr Commons institutions including the National Maritime Museum and Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums.
Questions? Comments? Want to share your choices or discuss your process? Visit this thread at the Flickr Commons group.
If you watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics last week, you saw a segment with men in top hats and muttonchop sideburns, representing the industrial revolution. Here’s actor Kenneth Branagh in costume as Isambard Kingdom Brunel that night. If you’re a Commons regular, maybe that all looked familiar, thanks to the National Maritime Museum:
